Today, PC Construction accepted a top national award from the Associated General Contractors of America for its work on the University of Southern Maine’s Portland Commons Residence Hall and McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success. The project earned a Construction Risk Partners Build America Award in the $76-$125 million new building category.
The project, with a total value of $83.6 million, is the largest in the school’s history. The 218,000-square-foot, eight-story Portland Commons student residence hall includes 580 beds with a mix of single-occupancy rooms, studios and multi-bedroom apartments. The 42,000-square-foot, five-story McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success offers a career and employment hub, meeting rooms, study spaces and amenities including a dining common, coffee shop and pub.
The two connected facilities, which are centered on a one-acre green quad, usher in a massive transformation of USM’s Portland campus. Portland Commons, the first-ever residence hall on the Portland campus, offers affordable living options to students in the region, enhancing the university experience. The state-of-the-art McGoldrick Center right next door contributes to a rich campus life outside of the classroom, providing opportunities for collaboration and connection.
The project also significantly contributes to USM’s sustainability goal of becoming fully carbon-neutral by 2040. Portland Commons, with its superior insulation and efficient building design, is the second-largest Passive House building at a university in the United States. The McGoldrick Center, with its large-scale 33.3-kW rooftop photovoltaic array and passive solar heating, is pending LEED Gold certification.
“As the largest construction project in USM’s history, we knew we needed the right team to bring our vision to reality,” said Dr. Jacqueline Edmondson, President, University of Southern Maine. “We selected PC Construction for their reputation in the higher education industry of professionalism, solution-minded approaches, and high-quality construction. Over the course of the project, I have seen that this reputation is well-deserved.”
PC Construction served as the design-builder working with the design team of Elkus Manfredi Architects and SMRT Architects and Engineers, in partnership with the P3 developer, Capstone Development Partners.
“We’re proud of our work on this project and honored to contribute to a vibrant and sustainable experience for future generations of USM students,” said PC President / CEO Matt Cooke. “I’d like to thank AGC America for this recognition, and the many partners and craftspeople for their strong collaboration. We had the absolute pleasure of working with so many incredible people, who all shared the vision of delivering an exceptional, high quality, safe project. Mission accomplished!”
Top: The three-story, 41,000-square-foot McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success building and quad form a new physical and metaphorical center of the campus, connecting existing facilities with amenities that serve the University population. Bottom: The 218,000-square-foot Portland Commons is the University’s first on-campus residence hall on the Portland campus with 580 beds in 385 units.